Cameroon Joins Kimberley Process, Allowing Diamond-Mining Start

Cameroon has joined the Kimberley Process on diamond certification, paving the way for output to start at a deposit discovered four years ago, said Minister of Mines, Industries and Technological Development Emmanuel Bonde.

“Transactions in diamonds can only be possible with countries that are participants to the Kimberley accord,” he said in an interview in Yaounde, the capital, on June 26.

Construction at the Mobilong site started in March by C&K Mining Inc., a joint venture between the central African nation and South Korea which has a 25-year license for the site, said Alvine Dongoua, a communications officer at the ministry. Mining will start in about two years, he said.

The Kimberley Process is a joint government, industry and civil-society initiative, which tries to stem the flow of so- called conflict diamonds, according to its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pius Lukong in Yaounde via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emily Bowers at ebowers1@bloomberg.net